ĐUREVIĆ: IT IS OUR DUTY TO NEVER FORGET THIS PLACE

VIŠEGRAD, MAY 31 /SRNA/ – The Mayor of Višegrad, Mladen Đurević, stated today at the commemoration of the 83rd anniversary of the massacre of Serbs in Stari Brod that the atrocity committed by the Ustasha regime cannot be forgotten, emphasizing the importance of passing down the truth to future generations and preserving collective memory.

“It is our duty to ensure that every future generation knows about this place, that it is never forgotten,” said Đurević, adding that the number of young people attending the commemoration has been increasing year after year. He stressed that it is encouraging to see not only the citizens of the Rogatica and Višegrad municipalities attending, but also people from neighboring municipalities such as Sokolac, Novo Goražde, Foča, and others. The President of the Veterans' Organization of Republika Srpska, Radan Ostojić, told reporters that the crimes committed in Stari Brod are just one of many examples of the suffering endured by the Serbian people during World War II. “Today we are here to grieve, to pray, and to remember all the innocent victims. When we enter the museum and look at its walls – those are not ordinary walls; they are walls of pain,” Ostojić emphasized. According to him, the agenda of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) did not arise suddenly, but has its roots in the 19th century, in the ideology of Ante Starčević. “That ideology was later transformed into state policy and implemented systematically. Here we witness crimes of unimaginable brutality and scale. This remains engraved in the collective memory of the Serbian people,” Ostojić stated. In Stari Brod near Višegrad, the 83rd anniversary was marked of the atrocity in which members of the Ustasha regime of the Independent State of Croatia brutally killed several thousand Serbian civilians, mostly women and children. The commemoration brought together a large number of citizens, descendants of the victims, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and delegations from several municipalities, including Višegrad, Rogatica, Sokolac, Novo Goražde, and Foča.